Legal information researched, immigration office called to consult with, and information gathered to decide on which USCIS paperwork to use for our situation - check.

Doctor letters verifying each of our kids' health received - check.

Letters of recommendation from 4 families requested - check.

Letter requested from health insurance company verifying that our future child will have coverage immediately upon us taking custody (I had to be pushy/insistent that a document of credible coverage wasn't sufficient). It has taken weeks to get the letter written and is currently "under review" before it can be sent out to us - almost a check.

Last 3 years of taxes copied - check.

Notarized local police clearance - check.

Judicial and reciprocal power of attorney letters typed, but not yet notarized.

So! As you can see we've been busy trying to attack this paperwork. Mark took a fasting blood test today that his doctor required in conjunction with his physical that is scheduled this week. Mark found a notary in his office building that is willing to come to his doctor appointment to notarize his doctor's signature on his medical letter Friday also. Once that is done and we finally receive the letter from our health insurance company then our home study documents will be complete and our case worker can finish writing up our home study!

Once our home study is complete we can turn in our I-800a application to immigration. They will send us an assigned date for more fingerprinting and once that is done we'll wait on their favorable determination letter. That is what will be holding up our dossier at that point since we are close to having all the other documents that we need for that to be complete.

Once our dossier is complete it will have to be authenticated and translated before it can be sent to Haiti. So that's where we are in the process! We're definitely in the hurry up and wait part of the adoption process. We feel like we're frantically hurrying to get together all the paperwork we need...so that we can start waiting :)

Friday, February 6, 2015

Some days I'm less enthused than others about having to start this paper chase part of the process over again. New background checks (no we didn't become criminals in the last 2 years). Asking the same people to write another letter of recommendation. Getting new physicals and letters from employers. Notarizing every document under the sun etc, etc...

You get the idea. It's a bit tedious. Then there's that BUT...

BUT I still feel like there has been His hand in the timing of things. And here is yet another way I've seen that:

When we found out that our adoption journey with Ethiopia could no longer continue and decided that adopting from Haiti was the right thing for our family...the next step was choosing an agency. After researching online and communicating with several families who had adopted or were in the adoption process from Haiti, I felt like Diana Boni from ABI was who I wanted to facilitate our adoption. Unfortunately when I contacted them I found out that they had no more openings for children in our age parameters. We also contacted another agency that several families said good things about and they were very helpful and quick about getting back to us. We were tempted to just jump on board and get going, but I was really hesitant for some reason. One thing that concerned me was the large number of families this agency had in process, but they assured me that there are more children in Haiti in need than there are families looking to adopt. Based on our prior experience being at the end of a large program list with Ethiopia, I was still nervous about this.

As I continued researching and interviewing people I began to look into WIAA (who happened to be our in state agency that completed our home study for our Ethiopian adoption) and was interested, but hesitant based on the lack of families I was able to talk to who had used them. We spent a few weeks researching (made some great connections including one from someone I know well!) and got good information. I even got the guts to ask Diana Boni what agencies she recommended since we couldn't use them. She gave me a list of 4 agencies she deems as the most ethical and experienced. The agency I mentioned earlier was not on that list, and WIAA was. After contacting a list of references, lot of thought and prayer we decided to move forward with WIAA. They accepted our application and we contracted with them. I couldn't be more excited about working with Wasatch and particularly Chareyl Moyes who heads up the Haiti program. Her years of extensive knowledge and experience working in Haiti more than makes up for her self-admitted lacking of "fluffy email updates" to families during the waiting process.

Now! Here's the point I was getting to...just days after we contracted with WIAA we find out that new quotas being enforced on the Haiti side of things...only 12 dossiers per agency may be submitted per year, and only 5 additional for special needs cases (it used to be more of a suggested quota and then unlimited additional applications for special needs). This put the larger agencies I mentioned in a place where they have had to stop accepting applications. ABI has enough families that their dossier quota is filled through the end of 2016 and the other agency I mentioned who had an even larger number of families in process is now going to have to hold many of their families dossiers for a significant length of time before they can even submit them to Haiti and begin their wait. I am grateful that we went with the agency we did. Not only did I feel like they will provide an ethical adoption, and that they have a lot of years of experience in Haiti...but because they keep their program smaller we won't run into hold ups on the U.S. side of thing before we even enter the chaos of the Haiti side of things. I feel for these families I'm hearing from on message boards that are now trying to decide whether to switch agencies or wait out the long additional wait before they can submit to Haiti and even start the "real" wait.

So! I wrote all of that out for myself. Basically all that I'm saying is that yes it's a pain to start this paper chase over, but I still feel like we've been blessed. I feel like the Lord helped guide us where we are through our experiences with our failed adoption and that we are on track now. A long road still ahead, but on track. And that feels good.

About Me

We live back in Utah now where I am lucky enough to be a stay-at-home mom and Mark is a foot/ankle doc. We have been blessed with three beautiful boys...one through adoption, and two through in-vitro fertilization. Every child is a miracle, but that is our story...and this blog is about us awaiting our next miracle as we journey through the process of international adoption. Feel free to follow us through the ups and downs (one miracle at a time)!

Our Adoption Timeline

International adoption has had a place in my heart since I was very young. In the fall of 2000 Mark and I had a sincere heart to heart about that (before getting engaged) and agreed that was something we were committed to wanting to do together when the time was right. At the time we were leaning toward an adoption from Asia (likely China).

3/2006 After an unexpected several year struggle with infertility we adopted our first son (domestically).

8/2006 We began paperwork to adopt from Haiti (through West Sands Adoptions) until we were presented with an offer for a paid IVF cycle, which worked and we became pregnant with our 2nd son. Later we used our remaining frozen embryos for a final IVF cycle, which resulted in our 3rd son.

12/2010 Haiti was dealing with the aftermath of its big earthquake earlier that year & starting an adoption at that time would be difficult. We started looking more seriously into different adoption programs in Africa.

2/2011 Honed in on adoption from Ethiopia and began researching agencies.

2/24/11 Webinar we scheduled with AGCI was cancelled and I decided (other than adoption blog browsing and web research), that we would shelf things and focus on our little guys until we felt it was time to pursue this.

3/11 Big changes happened within the Ethiopian government regarding adoption, and I became nervous about the slowdown with processing of Ethiopian adoptions and what that would mean down the road for us.

9/12 Felt strong tugging at my heartstrings again. Started researching adoption programs again and always came back to Ethiopia and AGCI.

10/3/12 Submitted preliminary application for Ethiopia program to AGCI!

10/5/12 AGCI requested further info to process prior to submitting our official application and fee (which we provided).

10/8/12 We were given the green light to submit our official application!

10/12/12 Send a huge list of detailed questions (in addition to those our kind coordinator had already answered) about the agency - we needed these questions answered before proceeding.

10/19/12 Received email back with detailed answers to questions, but also a request to contact them before submitting an official application (which made me nervous).

11/21/12 After reading responses from AGCI and lots more research on my part I called AGCI back and left message.

12/14/12 Finally heard back from AGCI (after 2 voicemails and emails) and they apologized that they had been backed up due to an unexpected increase in contacts after some positive media exposure (a bit on Extreme Home Makeover)...BUT they told me that although their agency was fine with approving us that they didn't think that USCIS (immigration) would clear us due to our excessive student loan debt. If that was the case we were not only not candidates for this agency or program, but for international adoption at all. I was devastated...for a few hours, and then I got on message boards and phone calls. I searched the USCIS website and called them and they said that it is based on debt/income ratio and is case by case (no $50,000 limit as had been explained to me). I also made contact with other physician families online that had $200,000+ student loan debt like us who had recently adopted. I called AGCI back with this information.

12/28/12 Got call from AGCI that their director personally took a look at our profile and approved us to move forward. She looked into where that USCIS limit info came from and it was from a case one year ago where a family was denied at immigration for excessive student loan debt (100K, but they didn't have enough income to compensate for it) and at that time the general guideline of 50K was sited at that time, and taken as a set limit by that case worker. I hope that by this information being brought to the director's attention that other families wanting to adopt won't be turned away at the screening process like we were!

12/31/12 We turned in our official application and $300 fee to AGCI!

1/7/13 Dr. letter from my cardiologist requested from AGCI, as well as personal statement from me on my heart condition.

1/16/13 Took paperwork to cardiologist and also submitted my personal statement.

1/25/13 Cardiologist faxed in his letter giving me his green light. Now we just wait for approval from the social services department and our official acceptance into the program!

2/1/13 We were notified that we needed documentation of compliance with post-placement requirements from Noah's adoption before approval. This information was provided.

2/5/13 We are officially approved with AGCI!!

2/12/13 We completed our first mandatory conference call with AGCI.

5/16/13 Paperwork notarized!

5/20/13 Had one paper re-notarized (was done wrong) and we selected a new home study agency (WIAA) since our old one is closing.

5/28/13 Received update from our agency that our likely wait time has now increased by an additional 18 months (so, now 42 months from dossier to referral) - totaling an estimated wait time of 5 years now for the whole process :(

5/31/13 Had first phone call with our assigned caseworker, Brandi, (versus our inquiry coordinator)...and then we were re-assigned to caseworker named Toni 3 days later when it was announced that Brandi departed the agency.

6/25/13 Notarized finished paperwork for local agency (WIAA) to complete our home study.

11/19/13 Submitted new paperwork to USCIS (they sent everything back and needed an updated form) & turned in one revision required for dossier.

11/20/13 Finally got the call that as of today we are on the wait list!!!!! Today is our official dossier completion date that we will track on the wait list!

12/9/13 Received letters from Homeland Security with our assigned immigration fingerprinting appointment times (different than the FBI fingerprinting we already did) necessary to receive approval for our I600A.

1/29/14 Update was received the the government does not have intention of closing their adoption program. Yay!

2/11/14 Received frustrating update from AGCI that our estimated wait time has increased to 5-6 years from log in date to referral (so 6-7 years total wait including our initial paper chase). Our LID was 11/20/13. We are remaining faithful in the Lord and His timing.

11/12/14 Received information hinting that our agency will be closing the doors on our Ethiopian adoption.

11/14 AGCI closes it's traditional Ethiopia program, leaving only open applicants for older, severe special needs children. We are heartbroken and unsure where our adoption journey will lead us...

12/12/14 After lots of intense research and prayer we turned in our initial application to adopt from Haiti with Wasatch International Adoptions

4/7/15 Verified dossier and translation (into French) sent to Haitian consulate in Chicago today for further authentication! ($950 paid: $450 for authentication and $500 to pre-pay for courier costs to Haiti)

5/18/15 Received approval notice from USCIS!!!...but now we found an error in it.

5/26/15 Received the updated USCIS approval today!

5/29/15 Complete dossier mailed off to WIAA for review!

7/31/15 AGCI (prior agency with Ethiopian adoption) officially completely closes the remainder of their program for older child special needs adoptions.